Dietrich Buxtehude: Sonates en trio – Manuscrits d’Uppsala

With the exception of the opus 2 Sonata by Buxtehude, all the music on this CD is unpublished, preserved in the Düben Collection in Uppsala – Gustav Düben, a friend of Buxtehude, was an organist and court music director in Stockholm. On the disc we find BuxWV 272, a Sonata in A minor, BUXWV 273 (Sonata and Suite in B flat major), and BuxWV 267, a Sonata in D major for gamba, violone and continuo. In addition, there is an attractive Sonata and Suite in D major by Dietrich Becker and an anonymous Sonata and Passacaglia for solo gamba with continuo. This music provides a unique window into the musical world of late 17th- and early 18th-century Lübeck, with its clearly talented pool of gifted amateur string players for whom this music was apparently intended. The considerable demands of all of the music here suggests that the citizens of Lübeck put their long dark winter evenings to good use, practising their violins and gambas until they achieved an impressively virtuosic standard. La Rêveuse also demonstrate effortless virtuosity in their performances, which combine charm and genuine emotional impact. Düben may have been a court musician by profession, but his music collection was surely also intended for domestic use in performances in which he would have played keyboard continuo. Buxtehude, too, might well have played this and similar music with his more musically adept friends in Lübeck. This CD is wonderfully evocative of these delightful evenings of socializing and music-making.

D. James Ross

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